Saliva test symptoms and conditions

Back in July of 2007 I had a partial Colectomy and was given Levaquin before the Surgery. When I woke up from the surgery I immediately felt all types of strange symptoms like, vibrating all over my body, anxiety, chills, Heart palpitations, tremors, insomnia, memory loss, and panic attacks. They told me that it was the anesthesia wearing off so I just sat in bed feeling that way for my entire 2 week stay in the hospital. When I went home these symptoms persisted as well as continued pain in my lower left quadrant where surgery was performed. It has been 8 months now and the symptoms are not getting better. They have conducted MRI’s, MRA’s. EEG’s, EKG’s, CAT Scans, X-Rays, numerous Blood Tests, and Thyroid tests but have found no physical problem. They can see that I’m having the symptoms I describe but cannot give me a reason for them. At first they thought that my Thyroid was having problems that turned up to be inconclusive. The doctors are currently referring me to a third Colorectal Surgeon, a Neurologist and a Second Gastroenterologist. We are also looking for a new Endocrinologist and will be going to the Cleveland Clinic for help. My life has come to a virtual standstill and I have no Diagnosis or direction to go toward other then the possibility that I have been affected by the Levaquin they gave me. I found a website that has all kinds of information concerning Levaquin poisoning. http://www.fluoroquinolones.org

My daughter has been on Yasmin for almost a month and the side affects for her are terrible. She has experienced major depression and pms symptoms. I'm relieved to know that these symptoms are "normal" for this type of BC. We will probably switch to something else.

Hello,

I read about how YAZ birth control pill affects the body and psych and I am now scared. This is my 2nd day of YAZ (I've never been on birth control pills ever and I am 27 years old), it's all new to me but after reading all these negative posts about Yaz I don't know what to do. Before the birth control pills, I was depressed, annoying, serious weight problems - 210 lbs :~~((, low energy, low libido, always tired, terrible migraines every 2nd day, ridiculously increased appetite and excessive hunger, hair where it shouldn't be, menstrual blood clots, excessive cramping etc
I have all these problems for 3 years now and now that the family doc. put me on YAZ birth control pill I am even more scared - mainly of more weight gain, it would be a tragedy for me, I am fat enough already and what's worse I can't lose the weight, exercise doesn't help, diet doesn't help, NOTHING. Will YAZ birth control pill worsen my already tragic condition? I just don't know what to do and what to believe ... I appreciate any advice or help you can give me ... Thank You to all!

i was diagnosed with what the Drs said as a sluggish thyroid---i have had panic attacks for over 20yrs and just thought I was pooped from them---Dr gave me 25 levothyroxine and told me to give it aprox 3months---i did and well I felt terrible nervous, depressed and more panicky---i believe the depression was from feeling more panicky and not being able to socialize---so, my Dr took me off the 25 T4 and put me on DHEA and progesterone, after doing the saliva test to check certain levels. Her hopes are that I will get energy levels back without nervousness since she has noticed my hormone levels are off and as she said I have adrenal exhaustion. So, Im only on the 3rd day off of the T4 and on the current regiment of 25mg DHEA/B supplements/
EFAs/and Lyrica(25mg)/ and I have no energy at all-----i just want to sleep but i push myself but cant wait to hit the bed almost always right now--I never had these symptoms b4 I went on the T4 aprox 3months ago but now that Im going off I feel terrible, I am definitely calmer and less anxious now that I am off them but I cant make a decision to save my life and Im pooped!!! Does anyone know if going off 25 T4 could have such a drastic affect----thx so much-----

hi all foggy head here someone here was talking about her and her friend getting tested and were found to have no progesterone was that a blood test or saliva test??????? and how long have you been on the progesterone cream i have read that it makes it can cause some anxiety as your receptors get use to this again ecspecially when your body is lacking it i am 3 mos off this week and have had 3 periods like clock work 3 weeks to the day but am still suffering foggy head anxiety weakness and 10 days or so before i get my period i get bad neck pain im considering the progersterone cream but am nervous keep us updated on your success

Kim
I have a typo in the post below in the first paragraph...

I meant to put HOWEVER on my saliva test my TESTOSTERONE level was 11. Then the rest of that paragraph relates to testosterone.
Sorry,
BitterRN

Kim
Hi BitterRN here.
All I can tell you about your hormone levels is what I too have experienced myself.
I had my hormones tested by blood and saliva 3 months after I quit bcp.
Both tests showed estrogen and progesterone levels as normal.........HOWEVER
On my saliva test My level was 11... Normal is 20-50 (I am sure I run on the higher end of that scale as I have or should say HAD the oily skin, oily hair, smalller breasts before yasmin..) This level is extremely low, and the test level stated LOW.
My blood tests drawn at exactly the same time on the SAME EXACT DAY, read normal (at the very lowest end of the scale) so my gyn said, all levels are normal.
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I had the results evaluated by a bioidentical Dr. later she said no, the blood levels were not "normal" and her words were "for an 80yr old maybe, but not for you"

So long story short, I kept testing, with saliva tests month after month (they have to be done at a specific time every month) and here is what happened.....

Month 4 after stopping,
My estradiol went to 0.8 now in the low range
Progesterone dropped to 72 now in the low range
Testosterone went UP to 15 still low range but higher.
Cortisol went up to 9.3 High ranges are 3-8. So just a little high probably from stress.
Symptoms, still feeling up and down with ? improvement.

Month 6 after stopping, (I skipped a month due to expense, I pay out of pocket for all these tests)
MY estradiol is range but still all of my symptoms are not gone
Cortisol still a little high at 8.9.
I am feeling better than before and symptoms are resolving, but I am not feeling getting better as quickly as I would like, so I do something REALLY REALLY stupid...

I try to start my old bcp ortho novum, thinking I did well on it all those years (12 yrs) and my hormones are pretty well getting to be more normal...or so I thought, now looking back not really, still had a ways to go, but I was not thinking clearly, and started them, at first I felt like things were getting back to normal, but about 12-15 after being on it, I felt the anxiety coming back. I stopped them on day 15, and it was like all the symptoms started over again (really wanted to die, How could I have been so stupid?) I believe I would have really felt better by now if I had not tried to do this.

Anyway, I saliva tested 1 month after and I already knew before the tests came back that my testosterone had fallen again to 17
My estrogen was normal at 1.3
Progesterone was really low at 16!!!!!! normal is 100-600
cortisol high at 11.

Next month after stopping
estrogen low again at 0.9,
Progesterone coming up at 52
testosterone 15 whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! somebody shoot me!
still feeling like sh*!
I really tried supplementing with bioidentical hormones at my doctors suggestion at this point, but It is really hard to find a dose because they are used to caring for much older women so it was a guessing game, consequently, I think i used a little too much testosterone,

Next month testing
progesterone dropped and testosterone shot up to 80!!
I called the lab and they said this indicated the dose I was using was too high, that since I tested while using this high dose, the test was registering high (in other words this was not my true level and it would come back down as soon as I stopped using it.) I asked why my progesterone went down as I was supplementing with progesterone creme as well, she said when one hormone is too high the other hormones become suppressed. Ahh.
So I quit supplementing altogether.
And now I am waiting for the next results, I should have them by monday or tuesday.
Just a side note, I am feeling better just as I was before I tried to take the bcp the 2nd time. It seems like this time I may be getting better faster? I dont know, depends on the day you ask me.
This is why i have been asking silke about her hormone levels and why I think that it may be her testosterone that is the problem, as some women have trouble getting their testosterone up after being on bcp or after pregnancy. I really feel this may be the problem as I did not feel better until this particular hormone started going up, as i felt crappy again as it dropped (especially with the anxiety) However, a doctor not familiar with hormones will say a Low normal level is normal. Its NOT.
This is just my experience. I cannot write it in stone. Hope it helps.
BitterRN

Silke
Hi, did you get copies of your labs?
Anxious to hear from you.
BitterRN

Well, I'm from Germany and I don't know if I can get such a test here to. But I'll search google tomorrow (it's already very late here and I'm a bit tired to go and search for it now)!! But it really sounds very interesting!!

Did you have problems with your muscles, too?? That was one of my biggest problems (muscle fasciculations and weakness) and it is still not gone completely. Somedays some of my muscles like arms or legs feel very weak...

I blamed these symptoms mostly on the loss of vitamines and minerals that Yasmin definitely has caused in my body (I had been taking that stuff for over 5 years...... with sometimes feeling better and sometimes feeling really miserable without knowing why.....!!).

And it seems to be very difficult to get back in balance for my whole system as I'm still suffering from some of the symptoms after being off Yasmin for so long (February 2005)!!

I'll post again if I find someting similar to that saliva test you told about, here in Germany!!

Thanks again for your always very helpful and delighting posts, Bitter RN!!

I wish you all the best and am looking forward to hearing (reading) from you again!!

Silke

Silke-
So glad to hear from you. I am just interested to know because I had lab tests done (blood) as well and mine came back "normal" low normal so I ordered a saliva test online for a hormone profile because I read that saliva tests are more accurate than blood tests for hormones and my labs came back that my testosterone is way low as well as some of my other hormones which were too low for a woman my age. ( By the way I have been off the yasmin since the end of Nov. 2005) So now I am looking into bio Identical hormone replacement, which is a natural hormone much like the hormones our bodies make already NOT the synthetic junk in BCP's. I think in my case that the yasmin supressed my androgens and testosterone which are the male hormones, guess what these hormones are responsible for? skin elasticity, mood, sleep balance, cholesterol levels, muscle integrity... among other things...hmm sound familiar? a lot of things we and other people on this site are complaining about. I am still looking into finding a good doctor for the BIH replacement but you can read up on this on www.salivatest.com click on 24 HOUR HORMONE HOTLINE on the bottom paragraph of the second box on the left hand side of your screen, then on the next screen scroll down to 630 ANDROGENS: Testosterone and DHEA listen to what the hormones are responsible for. 627 All about Hormones is very informative as well, actually if you click on a lot of the numbers there you can learn a lot, as well as about saliva testing and BIHR. You can order a saliva test by clicking on the home page you started out on, at the very top it says order test kit. I ordered HORMONE PROFILE I. That measures your estridiol, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, and cortisol levels in the am. This will give you a basic idea of where your hormones are at. I would be curious to see where your levels really are as well. Let me know what you think. Bitter RN-

Hi Bitter RN!

Yes, I'm here!! :) I come around every little day and read all the new posts. I've been doing that for about 1 1/2 years now, because it always helped me so much, and I think I'll go on doing that!!

Well, I don't really know what a saliva test is. I had only the normal bloodwork and hormone tests done, which came out fine, just the hormones all in the edge of what's normal, some a little high, some a little low. (That was in July 2005....)

I'm planning to get another test done around June/July 2006 to see, if anything has changed (remember, I've still got problems after 1 Year OFF Yasmin....).

Is that saliva test any better than the normal bloodtest?? Where could I get done this test and what does it show?

Silke??

Are you out there? I was wondering did you ever have a saliva hormone test to profile your hormones? Not a blood test, a saliva test. Looking forward to your reply. Has anyone else out there done one??
Bitter RN.

Hey Ladies,
I've been reading your posts of the last few days and feel compelled to write again((I posted last week). I have been working with a naturopathic endocrinologist for a little more than a week. He explained exactly what b/c pills do to your system; forgive me if this has been said before! Basically, the pills fake your body out into thinking it's getting PROGESTERONE, but in fact, it's getting PROGESTIN, which is a synthetic hormone. So, your body "thinks" it's getting enough, or possibly too much PROGESTERONE, so it begins making more ESTROGIN, which is one of the major culprits for many of our "ill effects" as he calls them. Yasmin, as you know, also has the diuretic in it, which actually dehydrates you and you really have a hard time catching up and getting rehydrated. I actually saw a "mainstream" female endocrinologist first and she said all of my hormone levels were NORMAL. When I saw my new dr., he said my levels were at the LOWEST end of what's considered normal, which is considered pretty bad by those that really understand these things. I encourage everyone still suffering to have your hormone levels tested; the saliva test is apparently pretty accurate, if not, a blood test works too. I' m now taking at least 15 supplements 2X/day in addition to progesterone cream to get my hormone levels back to normal. This is after having only been on the pill for 5 mos and OFF for 8 mos. The damage can be quick and unfortunately, long lasting without some kind of intervention. I'm feeling better already and the swelling and bloating is starting to go down. The weight gain is creaping downward but that's better than not at all! If anyone would like information on this send a general email and I'll respond personally.

Blessings.
Rita

To guest 13780:
Yes, I did have my hormones checked. I got them checked about 3 months being off of the pill. I did the saliva test. My results were that I have very very low progesterone and a high dhea level. You got your results back the same day? It took about 2 weeks before I got my results. I have been off of yasmin for about 5 months and have only had 3 periods. Hope this helps you some....I am still having anxiety and irrational thoughts but I am hoping this will go away very soon. If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask...Hugs to everyone still recovering from this horrible pill =)